The Saudi ambassador to Cairo Ahmad Abdul Aziz Qattan refused to give the crisis a political color and said Riyadh would never interfere in internal Egyptian affairs.

On his part, Egyptian Minister of Social Solidarity and Justice Gouda Abdel Khalek denied that the protests staged by Egyptian pilgrims at the airport had any political connotations.

Deputy Chairman of the Chamber of Egyptian Tourist Companies Nasser Al-Turk said the Saudis would never mix politics and religion and that the Kingdom deals with pilgrims as guests of God.

Egyptian Minister of Tourism Mounir Fakhry Abdel Nour said there were three reasons behind the crisis:

— The increased number of Egyptian pilgrims wishing to leave the Kingdom at that time, a total of 243,000 including 13,000 who were overstaying in the Kingdom since the beginning of the Umrah season mid February.

— The excess baggage the Egyptian pilgrims wanted to airlift to Cairo.

— The breakdown of luggage conveyor belts.

These are almost the same reasons contained in the joint statement issued by the General Authority for Civil Aviation (GACA) and Saudi Arabian Airlines on Sept. 2.

The statement, however, added “the desire of some pilgrims to travel without reservations and the irresponsible behavior of some of them caused additional pressure on Saudia staff who were doing their duties. This caused some pilgrims to miss their flights.”

The statement did not clear Saudis of responsibility and admitted the delays of a number of flights for operational reasons.

Overcrowding of pilgrims is not something new, as some media tried to claim, but its recurrence represents a practical mistake that should be dealt with seriously by both sides.

The first thing the Saudi side should do is to recognize that the services of the KAIA and Saudia are not up to scratch.

In its present state, the airport is incapable of accommodating the growing number of pilgrims, visitors and ordinary travelers. Neither its size nor its services are commensurate with the size of the Kingdom or the position of Jeddah as a gateway to the Two Holy Mosques.

Saudia is also not capable of catering to the needs of its domestic or international passengers. A joint Saudi-Egyptian commission should be established to discuss the situation and come up with mechanisms to prevent the recurrence of the crisis. The commission should also work during Haj to discover and rectify loopholes. The recommendations of the commission could also be used to solve the similar problems of other pilgrims. Saudi-Egyptian relations are distinct. They are not simply relations between two governments with many mutual interests; they are bonds between two peoples who are tied together by a number of strong links that cannot be easily broken.

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